permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflondon@worldnet.att.net>]

Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 18:19:48 +0100
Newsgroups: alt.permaculture
From: John Neale Baraclough <janet.and.john@zetnet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Native Irish Trees

"Holly" <holly@NOSPAM.esatclear.ie> writes:
> I want to buy a few larger trees to give some shape to the
> garden fairly quickly, but other than that I will buy the smaller ones
> as you suggest. 

 Hm, in my experience the larger the specimen the greater the 
planting shock...container or bare root makes no difference. It will 
sit there for several years, demanding water or stakes and sympathy 
every time the weather changes.It might grudgingly grow 6 inches in 
each of the first few years ...maybe.

 Long before the big tree gets its act together, a 2 ft bare root 
whip will have raced away unchecked, even oaks will quickly start 
putting on 2 ft a year.They will make far better underground growth, 
which is even more important, so a few years down the line when 
there's a big gale, or a drought, or a long frost, or just a very 
soggy windy winter, they  are far likelier to stand firm and survive.
 In five years, the big tree will be looking established but not 
hugely  bigger, and its delayed-growth bark will be rather thick and 
rigid.The tiny tree will be ramping away, as big or more, and have a 
thinner flexible bark which easily expands to allow further rapid 
trunk growth.(Any trees you grow yourself on site from seed will 
outpace the lot of them in ten years.)When I was first told this I 
didn't believe it, but it's true.

Remembered another favourite tree, red oak, quercus rubra. It isn't 
native but it fits in visually. Both willow and alder populations are 
being wrecked by diseases here in Scotland, if you are planning on 
those,ask local forestry if there's a problem.I'm felling dead ones, 
it's awful to cut a 30 ft tree you planted, and even dry, alder is 
pure hell to a woodburner chimney:-(

 Janet  
-- 
   janet.and.john@zetnet.co.uk




---
You are currently subscribed to permaculture as: london@metalab.unc.edu
To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
leave-permaculture-75156P@franklin.oit.unc.edu